This invention refers to a rolling body retainer for rolling bearings. In order to give a rolling bearing a satisfactory service life it is important to arrange a good lubrication of the bearing. From service aspects it is advantageous if the bearing can be provided with as much lubricant that supply of lubricant during the calculated life of the bearing can be avoided. It is thereby known to make bearings with sealing members, which seal off the space between the bearing rings and to fill this space with grease. The rolling body retainer and the rolling bodies which during operation rotate and which are located in this space tend to remove the grease from the space and this is prevented by the sealing members. These sealing members must be very efficient in order to retain the grease and to prevent penetration of impurities into the bearing during its entire calculated life span, which for most applications will amount to several years.
It has turned out to be very difficult to bring about sufficiently efficient sealing members for this purpose. It has also been proposed to design the rolling body retainer with particular pockets for collecting the lubricant. Such a step however will increse the price of the retainer and the function is thereabove uncertain.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a rolling body retainer, which can be easily manufactured at low cost, which is easy to handle and by means of which a bearing can be obtained, which can be provided with a sufficient quantity of lubricant for eliminating the need of subsequent lubrication, and where the lubricant is retained in the bearing in an efficient manner.
The characteristics of the invention are set out in the accompanying drawings.
The choice of retainer material furthermore means that the retainer will be comparatively elastic and the wear of the rolling bodies caused by their contact against the retainer will be insignificant. The retainer can easily be provided with integrated sealing lips, which will further add to the simplicity in obtaining a life time lubricated bearing.